Means for lifting building-blocks.



PATBNTED OCT. 10,1905.

A. A. SCHULTZ. MEANS FOR LIPTING BUILDING BLOCKS.

APPLICATION TILED DEG-9,1904.

unnan STATES PATENT FFTQE.

ALBERT A. SCHULTZ, OF APPLETON, WlSCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN DRISCOLL AND MICHAEL K. GOGHNAUER, OF APPLF- TQN, VVISGON SIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1905.

Application filed December 9, 1904. Serial No. 236,176.

To (l/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT A. SCHULTZ, residing in Appleton, in the county of Outagamie and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Means for Lifting Building-Blocks, of which the following is a description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

This invention relates to means for lifting building-blocks, and has for its object to produce a simple and effective device for engaging a building-block of the usual hollow concrete type and constituting a handle by means of which the building-block may be lifted and carried from place to place. 7 Concrete building blocks are usually formed with openings therethrough which incidentally afford the only opportunity usually resorted to for grasping the block by the hands for lifting and moving it from place to place. These blocks are usually quite heavy, and as the hands merely grasp the side walls of the block between these openings and the outside of the block the engagement is insecure and the blocks are liable to slip and fall, resulting in their injury and other damage. Furthermore, this means of lifting the block is quite difficult and trying on the hands.

This invention comprises an implement having an engaging block to be inserted within an opening of the building-block and provided with a handle which when lifted produces a tilting of the engaging block to bind it against the walls of the opening and so engage therewith that the further upward movement of the handle lifts the building-block, and the device becomes a means by which the block may be easily handled without liability of dropping.

lVith the above and other objects in view the invention further consists in the devices, their parts, and combinations of parts, as herein set forth with the equivalents thereof.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like characters of reference indicate the same parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a building-block with lifting means applied thereto constructed and arranged in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the liftenter therein.

ing means shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of lifting means also in accordance with this invention.

In the drawings, 5 represents a concrete building-block of a usual form provided with a pair of rectangular openings 6, passing therethrough from top to bottom. As shown, these openings 6 are slightly tapered, which is incidental to the construction of the building-block and has no particular significance 1n connection with this invention, the lifting means being applicable as well to buildingblocks having openings with parallel walls.

An engaging block 7 which is practically rectangular in form has a length nearly equal to the length of the cross-section of opening 6 and a width less than the width of the crosssection of said opening, so that it may freely A handle 8 extends from the top of the engaging block 7 and is preferably formed integral therewith, as shown, projecting in extension of the engaging block and reaching to a considerable distance beyond one end thereof.

A bearing-plate 9 is secured to the end face of the engaging block 7 beneath the projecting handle 8 and is bent beneath said engaging block to receive a bolt 10, which passes vertically through the engaging block and handle with its head countersunk in the top thereof. A bearing-plate 11 is secured to the face of the other end of the engaging block 7 and is adapted to bear against the inner Wall of one of the openings 6 of the building-block, while the bearing-plate 9 bears against the outer wall thereof.

The dimensions of the device are such that the engaging block 7 may be freely entered within the opening 6 of the building-block from above Without either of the bearingplates 9 or 11 engaging the respective end Walls of said opening. Now as the handle 8 is lifted, the engaging block 7 is tilted until the upper end of the bearing-plate 11 engages the inner wall of opening 6 and the lower end of bearing-plate 9 engages the outer wall thereof, so as to bind the engaging block Within the opening and cause the buildingblock to be securely engaged by the lifting device, so that it may be lifted and moved from place to place by means thereof. Usulower the block until it is seated, when the released pressure on the handle enables the engaging block to be straightened within the opening 6, so that its bearing-plates are disengaged from the walls of the opening and it is free to be removed therefrom.

The tendency of the weight of the buildingblock to break the engaging block 7 away from its handle is overcome by the bolt 10 passing through the end of the engaging block from which the handle extends, no such bolt being necessary at the other end of the engaging block. The bearing-plates besides strengthening the engaging block prevent wear of the device by the repeated engagements with the cement blocks.

In Fig. 4 there is shown a modification of the invention in which the engaging block is formed in two sections 12 and 13, respectively, the former having a convex inner end and the latter having a concave inner end fitting thereon, so that the two have a pivotal bearing relation with each other, both being provided at their outer ends with hearingplates 14 and oppositely-extending handles 15. The construction as just described is complete in itself and will operate to engage an opening in a building-block by entering the engaging block therein when its bearingplates 14 are parallel and then lifting upon the handles 15, so that the sections 12 and 13 tilt by each turning on the curved bearing between them until their bearing-plates 14 engage the end walls of the opening, when the building-block may be handled by means of the lifting device, as before. The release of this construction of lifting device is accomplished by seating the building-block and lowering the handles 15 until the sections of the engaging block resume their original positions with the bearing-plates 14 parallel and dis engaged from the ends of the opening of the building-block, when the device may be removed therefrom.

The construction as above described may further be provided with a pair of parallel links 16 on the sides of the engaging block connecting the sections 12 and 18 together. The pivotal connections between the links 16 and the sections 12 and 13 of the engaging block are arranged one above the other, so that by raising or lowering either of the sections the distance between them may be varied, and consequently the distance between the bearing-plates 14 will he changed, so that the device may be adjustable for engagement with building-blocks having openings of different lengths. The lifting engagement for the engaging-block sections of this form of device is the same as above described, except that instead of bearing on each other they bear upon their pivotal connections with the links 16.

What I claim as my invention is 1. A means for lifting a building-block or the like having an opening therein, comprising an engaging block smaller than the opening and adapted to be entered therein, and a handle on the engaging block by which the engaging block may be tilted to bind against the walls of the opening.

2. A means for lifting a building-block or the like having an opening therein, comprising a substantially rectangular engaging block adapted to be entered in the opening, and a handle on the engaging block by which the engaging block may be tilted to bind its edges against the walls of the opening.

3. A means for lifting a building-block or the like having an opening therein, comprising an engaging block, bearing-plates on the ends of the engaging block adapted to fit within the opening, and a handle projecting from one end of the engaging block by which the engaging block may be tilted to cause the bearing-plates to bind against the walls of the opening.

4. A means for lifting a building-block or the like having an opening therein, comprising an engaging block, bearing-plates on the ends thereof adapted to fit within the opening, a handle projecting from one end of the engaging block, and a strengthening means passing through the engaging block and the handle at the end of the engaging block from which the handle projects, said handle serving to tilt the engaging block to cause the bearing-plates to bind against the walls of the opening.

5. A means for lifting a building-block or the like having an opening therein, comprising an engaging block, bearing-plates on-the ends of the engaging block adapted to it within the opening, a handle formed integral with one end of the engaging block and projecting therefrom, and a bolt passed through the engaging block and the handle at that end of the engaging block, said handle serving to tilt the engaging block to cause the bearing-plates to bind against the walls of the opening.

6. A means for lifting a building-block or the like having an opening therein, comprising an engaging block, bearing-plates on the ends of the engaging block adapted to lit within the opening, a handle integral with one end of the bearing-block and projecting therefrom,

IIO

the hearing-plate at that end of the engaging In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in block extending beneath the engaging block, 5 presence of two Witnesses.

and a bolt passing therethrough and through I 4 the engaging block and the handle, said handle ALBERT SCHULTZ serving to tilt the engaging block to cause i Witnesses: the bearing-plates to bind against the walls of A. M. SPENCER, the opening. i O. H. BAAKE. 

